Russian priest criticizes ongoing war in Ukraine

MOSCOW — Father Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko, who was once a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, has stated his opinion since the Russian president Vladimir Putin started the war in Ukraine in February.

Father Mikhnov-Vaytenko strongly condemned the Russian war in Ukraine, and clarified his position against the Russian policy and leader of the church Patriarch Kyrill I., the war’s most vocal supporters.

Father Mikhnov-Vaytenko has written many letters, in which he demanded putting an end to this war. In his opinion, the crisis should be solved without a military war.

Despite opposition by the Russians who support the annexation in Ukraine, Father Mikhnov-Vaytenko has helped hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who found themselves stuck across Russia since February.

His religious organisation, the Russian Apostolic Church, has assisted some 7,000 refugees over the past eight months.

“By the time April came around, our religious organisation and the St Petersburg parish, we opened a center for helping [Ukrainian] refugees because many of them need different types of help. Some need tickets (to leave Russia), some need clothes, or different kinds of medicine,” Father Mikhnov-Vaytenko told Euronews.